How do I know my jewellery is made from genuine silver?

I get lots of questions about what I mean by ‘recycled silver’, so I thought I’d fill you in…. All the silver I use is bought from bullion dealers who sell silver that they have refined from the waste of various trades (electrical, medical, jewellery, for instance). This means that they have removed the impurities to produce an alloy that can be classified as a ‘precious metal’. It also means that the silver is not freshly-mined - a much more sustainable approach to jewellery-making.

Sterling silver has to contain 92.5% pure silver, and the way we guarantee this for you is to get this tested at one of the four Assay Offices in the UK. All jewellery above a certain weight (for silver, this is anything over 7.78g) has to be tested and marked (this is what ‘hallmarking’ is) before it can be sold.  Traditionally this has been done by stamping, but many jewellers (including me) request a laser hallmark.

Think of the hallmark as a certificate of the fineness of the silver. And the really exciting thing for me, is that this certificate includes details of the maker.  Yes, I have my own maker’s mark – it’s the ‘SB’ in the lozenge shape you can see in the picture.  How cool is that?!

The other marks you can see are: confirmation of the precious metal content (that’s the 925 on the ring in the picture); the traditional fineness mark (the lion which symbolises sterling silver); the stamp of the specific Assay Office that tested the piece (that’s the castle – I use the Edinburgh Assay Office); the date of the hallmarking (the Y indicates 2023); and the final one in this picture reflects the gold content on the piece – 9ct gold (375 parts per thousand of pure gold).

So, where you can see the hallmark, you can trust that the silver is genuine.